Building a Comprehensive ABA Program: Integrating More Naturalistic Strategies

1. Building a Comprehensive ABA Program: Integrating More Naturalistic Strategies Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA September, 2008

2. Our goals for today • To introduce you to a variety of useful teaching strategies within the field of ABA, including the naturalistic strategies • To focus on the use of the Verbal Behavior language classification system and to describe the benefits of this system for building the spontaneous use and generalization of skills

3. What are the core characteristics of ABA? • Interventions based on empirically validated research • Highly individualized instruction • Ongoing assessment and data collection • Data-driven decision making

4. What are the core characteristics of ABA? • Assessment of outcome is based on skill acquisition, maintenance over time, and generalization to real-life settings • Significant role for significant others • A humanistic approach focused on quality of life and meaningful change

5. What makes ABA so effective? • Specificity of goals • Linked to a thorough assessment • Data based decision making • Dynamic programming • Intensity • Ratio • Hours • Number of learning opportunities

6. What teaching methods are under the ABA umbrella? • Shaping • Task Analysis/Chaining • Discrete Trial Instruction • Incidental Teaching • Pivotal Response Training • Natural Environment Training • Rate-building for fluency

7. Discrete Trial Instruction

8. What is Discrete Trial Instruction? • Discrete Trial Instruction is a special form of teaching used to maximize learning for students who struggle with more traditional teaching methods, and who require repetition to learn. • Discrete Trial Instruction relies heavily on the antecedents and consequences of behavior. • Discrete Trial Instruction differs from other instructional methods because it relies heavily on intensity and structure.

9. DTI- An Historical Perspective • Based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and operant learning/conditioning (Skinner, Bear, Bijou, Lovaas, Long...) 1. Understanding behavior by analyzing environmental factors. 2. Systematically manipulating antecedents/ consequences to modify adaptive/maladaptive behavior. • Specifically “coined” Discrete Trial Instruction by Koegel, Russo, and Rincover, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977 • Designed to be a formal, exact unit of teaching which is: a single teaching moment a systematic shaping process to build complex behaviors a “step by step upward progression”

10. The DTI Model • The term “Discrete” stresses the need to recognize each individual teaching moment as separate and distinct. Each trial has a definite beginning and end. • Discrete Trial Instruction breaks down tasks into specific, focused instructional demands. • The format of Discrete Trial Instruction is very conducive to systematic data collection and tracking of student performance. • Highly effective • Has been in use for 30 years • Very successful in teaching a wide variety of skills

11. What is a Discrete Trial? • A sequenced form of instruction • SD (instruction) • Response • Consequence

12. How has DTI changed? • Not just blocks of trials • Interspersals • Shorter inter-trial intervals • Using errorless learning

13. What is errorless learning? • Errors are prevented • Use a most to least prompt hierarchy • Errors are interrupted

14. What is task interspersal? • Presentations of previously learned maintenance tasks are co-mingled with the presentation of acquisition tasks

15. What do we know about the effectiveness of interspersal? • Higher percentages of correct responding on acquisition tasks when maintenance tasks are interspersed (vs. when only a single acquisition task is presented) (Dunlap & Koegel, 1980) • Interspersal must include maintenance tasks. Merely interspersing several acquisition tasks does not facilitate learning (Dunlap, 1984) • Benefits of interspersal have been demonstrated across populations (Koegel & Koegel, 1996)

16. Why else should we consider interspersal? • More naturalistic, as one can not predict questions to be posed in everyday interactions • It prevents “automatic” responding, based on repetitive trials of a single item or a particular program • It reduces frustration for the learner • Facilitates response, as behavioral momentum is built

17. Why do we need DTI? • Many skills require repetition • Many students will easily learn new skills in this format • It is conducive to teaching skills that are not intrinsically motivating

18. What are the potential drawbacks or limitations of DTI? • Difficult to generalize skills (requires special consideration in planning) • May lead to overemphasis of the SD-R format of programming • Learners may not find instruction inherently rewarding

19. Discussion • Joey’s parents are teaching him dressing. They do multiple repetitions of buttoning every day after school, usually about 10 times. • What are the advantages to this approach? • What else might they do to teach buttoning or other dressing skills?

20. Discussion • Miranda’s teachers want her to ask others what is wrong when they express distress. So, while seated at 1:1 instruction, they pretend to cry and prompt her to ask what is wrong. They usually do this as a program, with about 5 to 10 trials at a time. • What are the advantages to teaching this skill this way? • What are the disadvantages to teaching this skill this way?

21. What are other ABA methods used to teach skills? • There are a variety of ABA methods which are naturalistic in approach • Naturalistic ABA strategies have been emphasized for many years, and have evolved and become more sophisticated over time • Incidental Teaching, the Natural Language Paradigm, and Pivotal Response Training all are naturalistic ABA strategies • Natural Environment Training is a naturalistic strategy that uses the VB classification system

22. Naturalistic ABA Strategies • Incidental Teaching has been an ABA method in use for over 25 years • “Incidental teaching is used to get elaborated language by waiting for a person to initiate a conversation about a topic and then responding in ways that ask for more language from that person (Hart & Risley, 1982).

23. Incidental Teaching………. • A natural environment is arranged to attract the student to desired materials • The student initiates the teaching by indicating an interest (gesturally or verbally) • The teacher prompts an elaboration • The correct response to the prompt provides access

24. Incidental Teaching…….. • Part of best practice ABA • Includes many “communicative temptations” • eating a desired food in front of student • engaging in a desired activity • putting an object out of reach • set up situations requiring “help”

25. What does incidental teaching do? • Makes use of the natural environment • Capitalizes on periods of high motivation to facilitate learning • Makes use of naturally occurring reinforcers • Reinforces an important class of behaviors (initiations)

26. Naturalistic ABA Teaching Strategies • Natural Language Paradigm and Pivotal Response Training are ABA methodologies which have emphasized naturalistic teaching for over 20 years • Associated with a number of researchers • Koegel, O’Dell, & Koegel, 1987 • Laski, Charlop, & Schreibman, 1988 • Koegel, Koegel, & Surrat, 1992

27. Natural Language Paradigm and Pivotal Response Training • Natural Language Paradigm and Pivotal Response Training have emphasized • the use of intrinsically motivating materials • teaching in natural contexts • focusing on the individual’s interests to guide language instruction

28. Natural Language Paradigm • Involves • items chosen by the child • variations in instructional targets every few trials • loose shaping contingencies • natural reinforcers • Playful, informal interactions

29. Natural Environment Training • Conducted in typical environment • Designed for younger students • Uses Skinner’s analysis of Verbal Behavior to develop an instructional model and curricular progression • Was developed by Sundberg & Partington • Described in their book, Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities

30. How do Discrete Trial Instruction and Naturalistic Strategies Differ?

31. Activity How do you use naturalistic strategies to teach -shoe tying -answering social questions -playing card games What are the advantages and disadvantages to teaching these skills naturalistically?

32. Why should we learn about Verbal Behavior classifications? • It teaches us about the functions of language • All of the functions need to be addressed long-term • When all functions are addressed, language programming is more comprehensive • Research has indicated that skills do not transfer across functions (i.e. a child may be able to label but not request)

33. What is “Verbal Behavior?” • Verbal Behavior = Behavior • Verbal Behavior that is learned via the same mechanisms as other behavior • Reinforcement • Punishment • A-B-C

34. How is it different? • In Verbal Behavior, reinforcement is mediated by another person • It is social • It involves more than one person, not just the person and the environment

35. “Behavior” versus “Verbal Behavior”

36. What about this example?

37. Skinner’s focus • Skinner focused on the development of expressive behaviors • Expressive behaviors involve the individual as SPEAKER

38. Why is it important in Autism? • Theory • Tool for analysis • What’s working • What’s not working • Implications for teaching • Related to core deficits • Emphasis on environment • Focus on function

39. What do we mean by function? • What determines or controls the response or behavior? • What is the antecedent? • What is the consequence? • What is the form of the response?

40. Briefest descriptions of Skinner’s expressive behaviors • Mand: request • Tact: label • Intraverbal: to and fro conversational exchange • Echoic: verbal imitation

41. What is the most important element? • What controls the speaker’s response • Echoic – matches what the person hears • Mand – specifies what the person wants • Tact – communicates what the person sees, hears, tastes, smells • Intraverbal – responds to what person hears & does not match

42. Teaching language by function • Teaching within a verbal behavior model addresses EACH verbal operant specifically • Research has shown that for children with autism, skills do not necessarily transfer across function • Prompts are introduced and faded systematically to try to achieve “pure” operants

43. Why is this important in Autism? • Deficits in all functions of language are common • Manding is important to increase spontaneity and balance other teacher-directed ABA teaching methods • Intraverbals build reciprocity and the foundation of social interactions • Echoics can address issues of articulation, intelligibility, and pacing • Tacting can increase commenting skills

44. How is this new & different? • Skinner’s organization of language is based on function rather than form • Teaching addresses function specifically • Highlights need to teach each function separately

45. Other categories of language important in Natural Environment Training • Receptive: following instructions or complying with the mands of others • Imitation: copying someone’s motor movements • RFFC: identifying items when given some description (its features, function, or class)

46. Expressive Echoic Mand Tact Intraverbal Receptive Motor imitation Receptive identification RFFC Receptive by Feature Function Class Expressive and Receptive Skills

47. Let’s get specific about Manding • A type of verbal behavior where the response is controlled by a motivational variable

48. Manding • A Mand names its reinforcer • A Mand benefits the speaker by satisfying EO/MO’s by obtaining specific reinforcement • A Mand allows the speaker to affect his or her environment

49. The importance of Manding • Manding skills allow the individual to spontaneously request items that are needed and items that are desired • Manding has traditionally received little attention in DTI programs

50. The importance of Manding • Mand training enables the instructor to know what functions as reinforcement • Mand training enables the instructor to establish oneself as an agent of reinforcement